Telling the Tale
by StormyWolfBowler
Summary: Jalil gets the last say on the series. DISCONTINUED... for now. If you would read and give any suggestions it would be much appricieated! If not, I will just take it off and wrtie the part that I wanted to get to. PLEASE HELP ME!!!
1. Chapter I

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Author's Note: This is to reward Jalil for his perseverance through all of the gang's adventures in EverWorld. Now, he isn't my favorite character, but I feel that the last book wasn't really an ending point and he did get his last say stolen by Senna. I'm not whining or anything, I'm more sophisticated than that, I have my own way of dealing with my disappointment: writing this story. I'm being stupid and starting this during the school year and marching season but I hope to finish this soon! It will touch a little on how K.A. got the idea for the stories, and also on the last battle. 

I do NOT own any of the characters of the EverWorld books, they are property of K.A. Applegate and Scholastic Inc.

EverWorld 13

Telling the Tale

Chapter

I

My name's Jalil. I crossed over from the old world Chicago, to a land where fairies, giants, dwarves, elves, and Gods roam. It's a place where Vikings and Aztecs still live, and even fight one another when their God tells them to. A place where you could be in Ancient Greece one moment and step off into the African Desert the next. A place where water is breathable if the God wishes it. It's a place of war and famine and death. A place learning technology for the first time. A place where gravity is not always there. A place where magic is law and reason and order.

How did I get here, you ask? I was dragged here by Senna, a girl in my school, a girl no one really knew well, a girl who knew my deepest secret, a girl who would have solved my problems, and a witch. She was dragged over by this huge wolf, Fenrir, son of Loki, Norse God of mischief and destruction. We escaped Loki before being tortured to death, met some Vikings and sailed to fight the Aztecs. The Viking lost and we were going to have our hearts cut out and fed to their God, Huitzilopochtli, when we escaped again. 

We met some aliens, the Coo-Hatch, best metal workers in the universe, and traded a science book for an upgrade to my pocketknife. It could now cut through anything. Then we met Sir Galahad and Merlin, who wanted Senna to lock her up forever. At the time, we didn't want that so we resisted and got Senna away. Galahad died and left David his sword.

Then we entered Hel. Hel, the daughter of Loki, appropriately named. She tortured her victims slowly, keeping them alive for years. Half of her is beautiful, irresistible, enchanting. The other half is rotting away, putrid, dead flesh. When she faced you head on, it was a nightmare because you loved and threw up at the same time. Needless to say, we got out of there as fast as we could. 

We then met Nidhoggr, a dragon, who replaced our hearts with rubies that would explode in three days if we didn't get his stolen treasure back from the Leprechauns. While in fairy world, I introduced the telephone to the community and made quite a profit before we were kicked out for aiding the dragon. 

Then we went to Ka Anor's land. Ka Anor, alien, god-eater, God of the Hetwan, giant cockroaches from Hell. We met up with a couple Gods from Olympus and helped them escape. We lost one to Ka Anor but got the other back home. Christopher turned down immortality and we helped Athena fight the Hetwan who were now equipped with canons, thanks to us. We set off to find Senna's mother, who could hopefully send the Coo-Hatch back to where they came from and out of our hair. We traveled through Africa and got on the bad side of their Semi-Gods. They let us go when we, unconsciously, made a sacrifice.

Then it was to Egypt, and Senna's mother. They met, which was not a happy reunion, and made the deal just when Merlin showed up again. We saved Senna, again, and made an unexpected detour to Neptune's underwater Kingdom. Before Merlin could get her, we traveled to Atlantis, and then back up to the surface. We surfaced in Ireland, where we quickly befriended the King, Queen, and Princess of Merlinshire. But Senna, on the other hand, had a different plan. She brought more people into this world, armed with guns. 

They destroyed Merlinshire, murdered the king, and tried to kill Loki, himself. They killed Fenrir, his son, and made his trolls run away in defeat. Senna was the leader, the powerful one. She held me and my friends captive. When she was distracted, I handed my knife with the Coo-Hatch steel to April, Senna's half-sister. She stabbed Senna in the heart and we fled. Loki left too, his objective destroyed. See, Senna was a gateway between the old world and this world. Loki wanted out, where Ka Anor wouldn't get him, he wanted Senna. Merlin wanted Senna to stop anyone from using her. April accomplished that task.

We split up, Merlin and the queen one way, my friends, the princess and me the other. We were going to the dwarf's kingdom, to rally an army against Ka Anor. We tunneled back to Hel and rescued some gods to help. Now we have Merlin, Odin, Loki, Thor, Baldur, and the Gods of Olympus on our side. 

You must be thinking I'm crazy, I'm not. There is a world that the Gods created to get away from technology, a world where unicorns and dragons and elves and fairies still exist, a world of magic. Welcome to EverWorld. 


	2. Chapter II

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Chapter

II

I woke up in the real world. My home to be exact. It was different somehow, there weren't kids running around the halls, no parents telling them to stop yelling, and no reflection when I looked in the mirror. 

The real world isn't real anymore. To me, it's just a dream. 

Since we got transported to EverWorld, whenever we fell asleep there, we woke up in the real world like nothing had ever happened. We were still living our normal lives here. It was like getting a news flash every time we fell asleep over there. _Hi real world Jalil. You just got sent to Hel and here's the live footage._ It was a nightmare waiting to see if you made it out okay. 

But when Senna died, we had no connection to the real world. We had to choose which life we wanted to live, the real world life, or the EverWorld life. I chose EverWorld because of my secret. I have an obsessive-compulsive disorder. I had to wash my hands at least seven times, I was always dirty and I had to scratch and clean myself till I bled. Senna offered me a life with out that, she could make it all go away. All I had to do was be her knight in shining armor and pledge myself to her. I couldn't. So she tortured me in EverWorld, taunted me, but my disorder wasn't present there. That's why I chose to crossover for good. 

David, the leader of our group, chose to stay for a different reason. He lived to be the hero, and there he was General Davideus, Athena's champion. He had to stay for the adventure, had to wear Galahad's sword till it rusted by his side, had to be the hero.

Christopher, the comic and whiner, chose to stay too. The Princess Etain of Merlinshire made a deal with the dwarf king. She would marry him in return for helping us with our army. She and Christopher were really close, marriage close. He was really upset when she agreed to sacrifice herself like that but she promised him that the dwarf king wouldn't live long and that she would be his as soon as she could. Christopher stayed for that.

April, the sensible one, chose to stay last. It was a hard decision for her to do, she had a lot of friends back in the real world and giving them up for this life was tough. She was the most attached to that world and almost chose that one for good, but changed her mind. Maybe she'll tell her reason someday. 

When we chose to crossover our other bodies disappeared. We just faded away. David told us that when he went to sleep, it was like he was invisible to the real world. He could still see his mom but couldn't talk to her or touch her. It was like he was a ghost. 

He was right. Here I was, asleep in EverWorld, looking in a mirror in the real world. I couldn't see me at all. I walked downstairs to see my family, quieter than usual, doing their own activities. I tried to talk to my mom, but she couldn't hear me. She put down her book and started crying. My dad walked over and hugged her, telling her that I would come back soon, that I just had some things I had to work out on my own. She said she knew and tried to calm herself down but had to leave.

My dad had just gotten home from the hospital yesterday. He had a heart attack, probably my fault. I couldn't stand it anymore, I had to get out of there, out of the sad zone. I ran through the door, literally, and out into the street. A GrandVoyager drove right through me. Not the strangest thing I've experienced, but still weird. 

I jogged all the way to my job at Mailboxes, Inc. My boss had already hired a new guy to replace me. He was just learning the ropes of the job. No cares in the world, other than luggin' boxes around the place. He was luckier than I was. I had to design battle plans and electric mining equipment at the same time.

I guess I dosed off, well, better get back to work. And with that, I woke up to my life in EverWorld.


	3. Chapter III

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Chapter

III

I awoke on top of my sketches for the dwarves' mines. I was working for them now. We'd made a kind of agreement for their help in rescuing the Gods. They got to tunnel down to Hel's little torture chamber and the king got Etain for a wife plus new technology, courtesy of me. Now I was trying to figure out how much of which materials I needed, how long it would take, and how many men- I mean dwarves- I needed. I don't normally like making hasty calculations but because of my doze I didn't have long. 

Let's see… I used about…oh…50 guys for that one telegraph in fairyland…multiply that by the space ratio of the dwarves' kingdom…divided by the strength differences…carry the 2…for a total of 50,000 men- I mean dwarves. Wait…no…"That can't be right!!!" I screamed.

BAM. BAM. BAM.

That would be the door. 

"This is a stick-up, see?" came the Brooklyn-accent-impersonation-voice of Christopher. 

I unlatched the steel door open and Christopher just grinned and shrugged at my annoyed look. "Sorry. I couldn't resist. Every door in this joint seems like one of those vault doors in those old bank-robber movies."

"What do you want Christopher? I'm kind of busy here." I gestured back at my calculations.

"So I heard," he said simply, elbowing past me. He took one look around and whistled. "I like what you've done with the place. Homey but business-like too." He sat down on my bed and became solemn instantly. It was amazing how he did that.

I shut the door and swung around the chair at my desk so I could see him as we talked. He was in charge at the moment so I just waited for him to begin. When he just sat there I got annoyed and told him he could leave if he was going to interrupt my work. Only not so nicely.

He smiled and said, "How am I interrupting your work if I'm not making a sound?"

"Listen Christopher, I have approximately one hour to get my calculations done for the king. At the moment, I don't have any done. If you would like to help, go right ahead; if not, please leave and go bug somebody else." I turned around and made it look like I was busy. 

He didn't move. He just stared at me looking half-alive. Suddenly I remembered what today was and why I only had an hour left. It was the day of the wedding between Etain and Baldwin. Christopher was crushed and had come to one of his friends for reassurance. Unfortunately he came to the wrong one.

I did the best I could do. "Christopher, I know you feel bad right now but you have to face what's happening. Etain is getting married and there's nothing you can do about it without ruining everything we've worked for. Think what that would do to Etain. She could be wounded, maybe even murdered of suspected treachery. You have to think what's best for her, man." He didn't look like he had heard a word I said but he spoke up in a half whisper, startling me nearly into falling out of my seat.

"Thanks man," he sobbed, the tears rolling down his cheeks now.

"You know, Christopher, you don't have to go to the wedding. You could stay in your room and…"

"That's alright dude. I have to see her. It might be the last time, you never know in Everworld, you know?" He stood up and walked to the door. I got up and opened it for him, patting him on the back as he left. One of the few times I had seen Christopher emotional and I had no notion in my mind to use it against him. Go figure.

Something about the way he said "the last time" had me worried. I had to find April. David would be too busy to go to the wedding at all and April usually had the right thing to say. 


	4. Chapter IV

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Chapter

IV

I wandered the corridors of The Great Diggings having to stoop every so often because the place was built for dwarves. I had to stop Christopher from suicide and April was the only one I thought could do it. 

Who knew why I cared about him wanting to kill himself, I mean, he wasn't the greatest guy in the world. He's a racist, sexist, whining alcoholic who complains about everything. But, then again, he's one of us, the real-worlders. It used to be just us against the world. We watched each other's backs even if we were mad as hell at them. I don't know how many times Christopher's saved my life, nor how many times I've saved his. All I knew is that I was going to make this one count.

I literally bumped into April as I rounded a corner. "Oh, Jalil! Just the person I was looking for!" She sighed with relief and helped me up. After she brushed herself off she continued, "I was just on my way to your room to check on how your calculations were coming."

I sighed, remembering that I was running out of time. But this was important. "April, could I ask a favor?"

"Sure, shoot."

"Could you talk to Christopher and stay with him through the wedding and afterwards, making sure he's ok with the whole thing? He came into my room and I gave him a small pep-talk, but I don't think it did much for him." I shivered, remembering his statement about it being the last time he sees her. "I know he's not going to be alone afterwards but I still think that it would help if he weren't given a chance to…" 

I shivered again and this time April caught the meaning. She gasped and nodded her head and, helping me up, reassured me that he wouldn't be left alone for a second. 

We walked together, talking about how exciting it was to experience a wedding. I'd never gone to a wedding but she had been to at least 4 and assured me that it was something you never forgot. "And if your lucky," she said, "you might catch the garter-band. If you catch that, it means you'll be then next to marry. For girls it's the same thing only we try to catch the bouquet." She rambled on excitedly for a while, until we reached my door. I told her I had some finishing up to do and that I would see her at the wedding. She smiled and walked off, reassuring me about Christopher once again.

I walked over to my chair again and looked over my calculations. 50,000 dwarves had to be wrong, that's all there was to it. Ok, where did I go wrong…that's right…that's right…ok…is that right? Oh I wish I had a calculator! Oh! I forgot to subtract the 79 from the 253! That's where I got…and then…for a total of 5,034 dwarves. I guess that's not as bad as 50,000 but it's still a little high. 

I continued to work on my equations until I heard the bells. These had been set up for emergencies but today they were being used for summoning the guests for the wedding. It was time for my section to go to the main hall. I gathered up my calculations and diagrams for the king and hurried to beat the crowd.


	5. Chapter V

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Chapter

V

It turned out that I didn't have to rush; all the other guests were already present and waiting or were working with David on battle techniques. So that left me not having to shove my way through the halls and passageways of The Great Diggings. I was thrilled. 

I'd never traveled to king's quarters by myself. I'd always been following guards everywhere and, unfortunately, I'd never quite remembered how to get there. 

I decided to go the mess hall first to, hopefully, catch some stragglers from the kitchens. No such luck. The dim lights throughout The Great Diggings supplied barely enough light to keep from tripping. I made sure not to drop any of my papers along the way. I may have been on good terms with Baldwin but I doubt that, even today, he would be very forgiving for insubordination. 

Don't ask me how I made it, but I did. And just in time too. King Baldwin had just finished getting ready for the ceremony and was in good humors. I could smell the drink on his breath when he laughed and had to stop myself repeatedly from gagging on the fowl stench. Don't get me wrong, I have gotten drunk before, but when you're drunk you don't exactly care about how you smell. 

His breath, to put it mildly, was rancid.

I laughed with him and had a few drinks myself. Then we got down to business. He looked over my calculations and looked to be examining my math, though I doubt that he understood any of it. He finally asked me what my estimate of dwarves needed was. I told him calmly, though I wasn't anywhere near as calm as I sounded. Rule number one of telling bad news: Don't sound nervous. Sound nervous and they kill you right then and there.

Baldwin chuckled, "You've got to be joking." Looking at my serious face, he reconsidered. His eyes quickly scanned over my calculations, vainly looking for a flaw. "How am I to gather 5,000 dwarves when Davideus needs so many to fight in the war?" 

I looked at him sympathetically. It was his wedding day, after all, and I didn't want him to go in with this on his mind. Looking over at my sheets and sheets of paperwork, I sighed inwardly at what I had to do. I had to put all that behind me and start all over. 

"Your Majesty? Would it be possible to reconfigure the time period in which this is to take place? If it were to take longer, I should be able to lower the number needed." He smiled and I could see the tension flow off his shoulders. 

"Of course my boy!" He slapped my back with a big, meaty hand and lounged with me until the call finally came that the reception was to begin. All of his servants and I wished him luck and, bidding us farewell, he left. 

~ Sorry it's taken so long but I'd gotten a bit of writers block. I hope the next chapter to be up soon! ~


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